1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk changer device which is mounted with a magazine storing a plurality of disk holding members which hold disks and which extracts disks from this magazine and performs recording/replay of these disks, and particularly relates to a loading mechanism for performing the operation of extracting disk holding members from the magazine, the operation of chucking the disks, and the operation of returning the empty disk holding members to the magazine.
2. History of the Prior Art
In recent years, there are many disk devices such as CD players wherein a magazine capable of storing a plurality of disks is provided thereto and automatic selection of one of the plurality of disks stored within the magazine is selected according to selection made by the user so that recording/replay thereof can be made, in order to reduce disk exchanging operations by the user as much as possible, thereby increasing ease of use. With such disk devices, a disk changer device is provided for selectively extracting the desired disk from the magazine mounted to the magazine mounting portion and transporting this disk to the recording/replay means, and returning the disk to the magazine again following recording/replay thereof, in order to perform sequential recording/replay of a plurality of disks by means of common recording/replay means which conducts recording/replay of the disks.
The configuration of such a disk changer device differs according to the configuration of the magazine to be used. For example, a disk changer device is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 6-290528 employing a magazine provided with disk holding members which can easily hold disks simply by inserting the disks in the plate surface direction thereof. FIG. 28 is a drawing illustrating this device disclosed in the Publication.
This disk changer device illustrated in FIG. 28 is provided with a recording/replay unit 2 capable of moving vertically as to a chassis 1, and a transporting/chucking mechanism 3. The magazine 4 is constructed such that a plurality of disk holding members 5 such as shown in FIG. 29 are arrayed so as to be extractable therefrom and replaceable thereto.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 29, the disk holding member 5 is formed in a cylindrical shape which can store only one disk 6, and is provided with disk insertion opening 5a situated on the side of the opening 4a of the magazine 4, and with a spring 5b provided internally. At the point that the disk 6 is inserted to the predetermined position from the insertion opening 5a, the disk 6 is held by the spring 5b. This disk holding member 5 is also configured so as to be extracted to the position above a turntable 2a of the recording/replay unit 2 by means of a transporting member 3a of the transporting/chucking mechanism 3, as shown in FIG. 28.
Further, regarding the device shown in FIG. 28 and FIG. 29, a cam gear 7 provided with two gullet portions 7a, two cam grooves 7b and 7c, and an arm linkage 7d is used as a single driving source, as shown in FIG. 30, and the arrangement is such that the transporting/chucking mechanism 3 is driven by means of the rotation of this cam gear 7. In this case, as shown in FIG. 30, the arm linkage 7d on the periphery of the cam gear 7 is linked to one end of the arm 3b of the transporting chucking mechanism 3, with the other end of this arm 3b being linked to the transporting member 3a via a gear mechanism 3f comprised of a large and small gear 3c, fixed rack 3d, and a rack 3e provided to the transporting member 3a, and so forth. The arrangement of the gear mechanism 3f is such that the motion stroke of the arm linkage 7d in the transportation direction is doubled and transferred to the transporting member 3a. Also, the two cam grooves 7b and 7c of the cam gear 7 are arranged so as to drive an unshown chucking unit.
Regarding the device having a construction such as shown in FIG. 28 through FIG. 30, in the event that one of the disks 6 within the magazine 4 is to be played, the recording/replay unit 2 and transporting/chucking mechanism 3 are vertically moved, and positioned at a position corresponding with one of the disk holding members 5 of the magazine 4, and then the following disk loading operation is performed by means of the cam gear 7 turning on the first direction by 360xc2x0. That is to say, in the disk loading operation, first, the transporting member 3a is driven by means of the cam gear 7 rotating in the first direction by 180xc2x0 so as to extract the disk holding member 5 holding the disk 6 from the magazine 4. Next, the chucking unit is driven by the gullet portion 7a of the cam gear 7 so as to perform chucking of the disk 6 on the turntable 2a. Following this, the transporting member 3a is driven by means of the cam gear 7 rotating in the first direction by 180xc2x0 so as to cause the disk holding member 5 to move in the direction opposite to the extracting direction (i.e., the returning direction), thereby returning the disk holding member 5 to within the magazine 4. Consequently, the disk 6 chucked onto the turntable 2a is extracted from the disk holding member 5 during this moving of the disk holding member 5 and left on the turntable 2a, so the disk holding member 5 alone is returned into the magazine 4.
Also, in order to return the disk 6 which has been chucked onto the recording/replay unit 2 to the magazine, the following disk ejecting operation is performed. In this disk ejecting operation, the transporting member 3a is driven by means of the cam gear 7 rotating in the second direction by 180xc2x0 so as to extract the empty disk holding member 5 from the magazine 4, thus inserting the disk 6 which has been chucked on the turntable 2a into the holding member 5 in accordance with the movement of the holding member 5, thereby the disk 6 being held within the holding member 5. Next, the chucking unit is driven by the gullet portion 7a of the cam gear 7 so as to disengage chucking of the disk 6. Following this, the transporting member 3a is driven by means of the cam gear 7 rotating in the second direction by 180xc2x0 so as to return the disk holding member 5 to the magazine 4. In this case, the disk 6 is not extracted from the holding member 5, so the disk holding member 5 is returned into the magazine 4 with the disk 6 therein.
As described above, with the device described with reference to FIG. 28 through FIG. 30, the recording/replay unit 2 and transporting/chucking mechanism 3 are vertically moved, and positioned at positions corresponding with each of the disk holding members 5 of the magazine 4, thereby allowing the disks 6 to be extracted from the magazine 4 in a horizontal manner and chucked onto the turntable 2a of the recording/replay unit 2 in that same state. Consequently, the complicated disk transportation operation of extracting the disk from the disk holding member and lowering the disk to the turntable becomes unnecessary, and there is no need to form a gap between this disk holding member and the disk for returning the disk holding member to the magazine. Thus, this arrangement is advantageous in that the amount of space necessary for transporting disks can be reduced, and the number of parts can be reduced.
However, there are problems with the conventional disk changer shown in FIG. 28 through FIG. 30, such as (1) increased dimensions owing to usage of a cam gear, and (2) non-continuity of control owing to non-correspondence of the direction of rotation of the driving source and the transporting direction. These problems will be described below.
(1) Increased dimensions owing to usage of a cam gear
For example, in the event that the conventional device shown in FIG. 28 through FIG. 30 is applied to a CD changer device, the diameter of the disk is approximately 120 mm and the diameter of the chucking area at the center of the disk is approximately 40 mm, so even in the event that playing is performed in a state wherein the disk extracted from the magazine and chucked is partially overlapping the disks stored in the magazine, the disk must be extracted from the magazine by at least approximately 80 mm.
In this case, regarding the conventional device shown in FIG. 28 through FIG. 30, as described above, following the cam gear 7 making a half-rotation to extract the disk holding member 5 and chucking the disk 6, the cam gear 7 is arranged such as to return the disk holding member 5 into the magazine 4 with the remaining half-rotation. Accordingly, the transporting member 3a needs to be moved 80 mm or more with the half rotation of the cam gear 7. Conversely, as described above, the motion stroke in the transporting direction of the arm linkage 7d at the periphery of the cam gear 7 is doubled by the gear mechanism 3f and transferred to the transporting member 3a, but even in this case, the cam gear 7 needs to have a diameter of at least 40 mm or more. Accordingly, a large diameter cam gear 7 needs to be provided in the vertical direction, thus increasing the height-wise dimensions.
(2) Non-continuity of control owing to non-correspondence of the direction of rotation of the driving source and the transporting direction
Regarding the conventional device shown in FIG. 28 through FIG. 30, there is no corresponding relation between the direction of rotation of the cam gear 7 which serves as the driving source and the transporting direction of the disk holding member 5 by means of the transporting member 3a. For example, regarding the disk loading operation, the disk holding member 5 is moved in the extracting direction with the first half rotation of the cam gear 7 in the first direction, and the disk holding member 5 is moved in the opposite (returning) direction with the second half rotation, so that the disk holding member 5 is moved in two directions whereas the cam gear 7 rotates in one direction. Accordingly, the transporting direction of the disk holding member cannot be immediately determined from the direction of rotation of the cam gear 7 alone, so data regarding both the direction of rotation of the cam gear 7 and the amount of rotation from the predetermined position is required for making determination. Consequently, in the event that the user desires to change the operation which is presently being performed, there is the possibility that appropriate and speed control may not be able to be conducted. Specifically, in the event that the power goes off or so forth during an operation, the data regarding the contents of operations performed so far is lost, and in such a case, the operation being performed before power outage cannot be resumed due to the necessity of returning the mechanism to the initial state and then initiating operations, etc., and continuity of control cannot be maintained.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems of the conventional art, and it is an object thereof to provide a disk changer device which is capable of maintaining continuity of control, small, and simple, by means of perpetually maintaining a 1-to-1 correspondence relation between the direction of rotation of the driving source and the direction of operation of the disk holding member.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention extracts the disk from the magazine and performs chucking to the recording/replay means, and also improves the construction of the driving means for driving the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means in the loading mechanism for returning the chucked disk to the magazine, thereby providing a 1-to-1 correspondence relation between the direction of rotation of the driving source and the direction of operation of the disk holding member.
In other words, the present invention first comprises recording/replay means for performing either or both of recording to and playing from a disk. The present invention also comprises chucking means for chucking a disk to the aforementioned recording/replay means, and disk holding member transporting means for extracting disk holding members from a magazine in which a plurality of the aforementioned disk holding members each for holding disks by means of insertion of the aforementioned disks in the plate surface direction thereof are stored in an array so as to be extractable from and replaceable to the magazine, and transporting the aforementioned disk holding members to a certain transporting position within the device. Further, the present invention comprises moving means for supporting the aforementioned recording/replay means, chucking means, and disk holding member transporting means, and allowing these to be movable in the direction of array of the disk holding members within the aforementioned magazine in order to do away with vertical transportation of the disk.
Additionally, the present invention comprises driving means for driving the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means and chucking means so as to extract the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means holding a disk from the aforementioned magazine, chucking the disk held by the aforementioned disk holding member to the aforementioned recording/replay means, and subsequently returning the aforementioned disk holding member alone to the aforementioned magazine. The driving means comprises a single driving source and a selecting mechanism for separately and selectively transferring the output of the driving source to the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means and chucking means.
According to the invention, the following effects can be obtained.
First, when performing replay of a disk within the magazine, the recording/replay means, chucking means, and disk holding member transporting means are moved all at once, positioned with the disk holding member holding the disk within the magazine which is to be played, and then the output of the driving source is selectively transmitted to the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means via the selecting mechanism, whereby the following disk loading operation is performed. i.e., in the disk loading operation, the output of the driving source is transferred via the selecting mechanism to the disk holding member transporting means, chucking means, and disk holding member transporting means in that order, thereby extracting the disk holding member from the magazine, and following the disk being chucked to the recording/replay means, the disk holding member is returned to the magazine.
Also, in the disk ejection operation of returning the disk chucked to the recording/replay means to the magazine, the output of the driving source is transferred via the selecting mechanism to the disk holding member transporting means, chucking means, and disk holding member transporting means in that order, thereby extracting the disk holding member from the magazine, and following the disk being chucked to the recording/replay means, the disk holding member is returned to the magazine.
Thus, the output of the single driving source is not directly transferred to the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means, but a selecting mechanism is provided between both means, so that directional independence of both means can be secured, as compared to cases wherein both means are directly driven by using a single driving source such as a cam gear or the like. In other words, the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means can be driven separately and selectively including the corresponding relation of the directionality with the driving source according to the construction of the selecting mechanism, and accordingly, there is no limitation die to the operation of the chucking means, and a 1-to-1 correspondence relation can easily be maintained between the direction of rotation of the driving source and the direction of operation of the disk holding member. Also, such a selecting mechanism can be easily realized with a small and simple construction using various gears such as gears or cam gears having gullets, planetary gears, and so forth.
Further in accordance with the invention, the driving means and chucking means thereof are constructed as follows. The driving means is constructed so as to rotate in a certain direction, and the chucking means is constructed so as to continuously perform chucking operation and chucking disengaging operation, based on the rotation in the certain direction of the driving source.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, the following effects can be obtained.
In the above described disk loading operation and disk ejecting operation, the chucking means performs chucking operations and chucking disengaging operations, which are entirely opposite operations. In such a case, in the event that the chucking operation and chucking disengaging operation are simply corresponded with the two rotational directions of the driving source, the chucking means has to perform chucking operation or chucking disengaging operation each time the driving source is reversed in the direction of rotation thereof, making it difficult to maintain a directional corresponding relation between the driving source and the disk holding member transporting means. Also, in order to avoid undesirable chucking operation or chucking disengaging operation due to reversal in the direction of rotation of the driving source, it becomes necessary to restrict the operation of the chucking means according to the operational direction, position, and so forth, of the disk holding member, resulting in a complicated structure.
Conversely, in arrangements according to the invention, chucking operation and chucking disengaging operation is performed continuously regarding rotation of the driving source in a certain direction, so that chucking operation or chucking disengaging operation can be performed in a sure manner at a position appropriately matched with the operation of the disk holding member, simply by appropriately setting the relation between the amount of rotation of the driving source necessary for operation of the disk holding member transporting means, and the amount of rotation of the driving source between the chucking operation and chucking disengaging operation.
In accordance with the invention, the driving means and disk holding member transporting means thereof are constructed as follows. The driving means thereof is constructed so as to perform rotation in two directions, and the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means being constructed so as to extract the aforementioned disk holding members from the aforementioned magazine based on rotation of the aforementioned driving source in one direction, and to return the aforementioned disk holding members to the aforementioned magazine based on rotation of the aforementioned driving source in the other direction.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, the following effects can be obtained.
In the above described disk loading operation and disk ejecting operation, the disk holding member transporting means only needs to perform the same reciprocal operation for both disk loading operation and disk ejecting operation, of transporting the disk holding member in the direction of extracting, and then transporting in the reverse direction (return direction). In the invention, the direction of operation of the disk holding member transporting means and the direction of rotation of the driving source are corresponded, so that in both cases of disk loading operation and disk ejecting operation, the operation direction of the disk holding member can be easily switched simply by switching the rotation direction of the driving source, and even in the event that the power is turned off, the operation being performed before power outage can be resumed.
More specifically, in order to correspond the direction of operation of the disk holding member transporting means and the direction of rotation of the driving source, the selecting mechanism is provided with functions to transfer the directionality of the output of the driving source to the disk holding member transporting means as is, and to disengage the driving source with the disk holding member transporting means when performing chucking or disengaging. Such functions can be easily realized with a small and simple construction using gears having gullets, etc. Particularly, in a combination according to the invention, only the directional corresponding relation between the driving source and the disk holding member transporting means needs to be taken into consideration, with no restriction whatsoever from the chucking operations, thus further reducing the size and complexity of the selecting mechanism.
In accordance with the invention, the selecting mechanism thereof is comprised of an output gear, transporting driving rack, gullet, planetary gear, chucking driving gear, and cam.
Of these, the output gear is constructed so as to rotate in a direction corresponding with the rotation of the aforementioned driving source. Also, the transporting driving rack is provided to the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means and is linked with the aforementioned output gear so as to move the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means by the rotation of the aforementioned output gear. Further, the gullet portion is provided to the linkage portion between the aforementioned output gear and the aforementioned transporting driving rack and is constructed so as to disengage the linkage between the output gear and transporting driving rack in the event that the disk holding member transporting means completes transporting of the aforementioned disk holding member to the aforementioned certain transporting position.
On the other hand, the planetary gear is linked with the aforementioned output gear, and is provided so as to rotate around the periphery of the aforementioned output gear. Also, the chucking driving gear is provided so as to be able to be linked with the aforementioned planetary gear according to the rotational position of the planetary gear, and is constructed so as to drive the aforementioned chucking means by means of the rotation of the aforementioned planetary gear when linked with the planetary gear. Further, the cam is provided so as to move according to the position of the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means. This can is constructed so as to restrict the rotation of the aforementioned planetary gear while the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means transports the aforementioned disk holding member to the aforementioned certain transporting position, and which allows rotation of the aforementioned planetary gear in the direction of linkage with the aforementioned chucking driving gear in the event that the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means completes transporting of the aforementioned disk holding member to the certain transporting position.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, regarding the disk holding member transporting means, the output from the output gear is transferred via the transporting driving rack and the linkage with the output gear is disengaged by means of the gullet, and regarding the chucking means, the output from the output gear is transferred via the planetary gear and chucking driving gear and the linkage with the output gear is disengaged by means of the cam which restricts rotation of the planetary gear.
In the disk loading operation, first, the disk holding member transporting means moves in the extracting direction by means of the rotation of the output gear linked via the transporting driving rack, and at the point that the disk holding member reaches the predetermined transporting position, disengagement with the output gear is conducted by means of the gullet portion. In this case, the rotation of the planetary gear is restricted by means of the cam during operation of the disk holding member transporting means, so the chucking means chucks the disk to the recording/replay means by means of the rotation of the output gear. Subsequently, the disk holding member transporting means is linked to the output gear once more via the transporting driving rack, the disk holding member transporting means is moved in the direction opposite to the extracting direction (return direction) by means of the rotation of this output gear, thereby returning the empty disk holding member to the magazine. Also, the same operation is conducted for the disk ejecting operation as with the disk loading operation, except that chucking disengaging operation is performed instead of chucking operation.
According to the invention, transfer and disengagement of power to the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means can be realized in a sure manner with a small and simple construction comprised of an output gear, transporting driving rack, gullet, planetary gear, chucking driving gear, and cam.
In accordance with with the invention, the output gear and planetary gear are comprised as follows. The output gear is constructed so as to directly mesh with the aforementioned transporting driving rack and also to directly mesh with the aforementioned planetary gear, and wherein the planetary gear is provided so as to rotate around the periphery of the output gear.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, in addition to the effects of the invention described above, a separate gear for linking between the output gear and transporting driving rack or a separate gear for linking between the output gear and planetary gear are unnecessary, so that the number of parts can be reduced, and the selecting mechanism can be reduced in size and simplified.
In accordance with the invention, the selecting mechanism thereof is comprised of an output gear, planetary gear, transporting driving rack, chucking driving gear, and cam, as described below.
Of these, the output gear is configured so as to rotate in a direction corresponding with the rotation of the aforementioned driving source. Also, the planetary gear is linked with the aforementioned output gear, and is provided so as to rotate around the periphery of the aforementioned output gear between first and second rotating positions. Further, the transporting driving rack is provided to the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means and is linked with the aforementioned planetary gear in the event that the planetary gear is at the aforementioned first rotational position so as to move the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means by the rotation of the planetary gear. Also, the chucking driving gear is provided so as to be able to be linked with the aforementioned planetary gear in the event that the planetary gear is at the aforementioned second rotational position, and drive the aforementioned chucking means by means of the rotation of the aforementioned planetary gear when linked with the planetary gear.
Further, the cam is provided so as to move according to the position of the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means. The cam retains the aforementioned planetary gear at the aforementioned first rotational position while the aforementioned disk holding member transporting means transports the aforementioned disk holding member to the aforementioned certain transporting position, and which allows rotation of the planetary gear to the aforementioned second rotational position in the event that the disk holding member transporting means completes transporting of the aforementioned disk holding member to the certain transporting position.
According to the invention, output from the output gear can be selectively transferred to the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means, via the planetary gear. In other words, when causing transportation of the disk holding member, the planetary gear is held at the first rotational position by means of control by the cam and is linked with the transporting driving rack, thereby transferring the output from the output gear to the disk holding member transporting means, and at the point that the disk holding member has been transported to the predetermined transporting position, the planetary gear is released so as to rotate to the second rotational position and is linked with the chucking driving gear, thereby transferring the output from the output gear to the chucking means.
In the disk loading operation, first, the disk holding member transporting means is moved in the extracting direction by means of the rotation of the output gear which is linked via the transporting driving rack and the planetary gear which is at the first rotational position, and the disk holding member is transported to the certain transporting position. In this case, the planetary gear is held at the first rotational position by means of control by the cam during transportation of the disk holding member, and is linked with the transporting driving rack, and on the other hand is disengaged from the chucking driving gear. At the point that the disk holding member transporting means has transported the disk holding member to the predetermined transporting position, the planetary gear is released so as to rotate to the second rotational position and is linked with the chucking driving gear, thereby linking the chucking means to the output gear, whereby the chucking means performs chucking of the disk to the recording/replay means by means of the rotation of the output gear. Subsequently, the planetary gear is retained at the first rotational position once more, thereby linking the disk holding member transporting means to the output gear via the transporting driving rack and the planetary gear, and moving the disk holding member transporting means in the direction reverse to the extracting direction (return direction) by means of the rotation of this output gear, thus returning the empty disk holding member to the magazine. Also, the same operation is conducted for the disk ejecting operation as with the disk loading operation, except that chucking disengaging operation is performed instead of chucking operation.
According to the invention, selective switching of transfer of output to the disk holding member transporting means and chucking means can be realized with a small and simple construction comprised of an output gear, planetary gear, transporting driving rack, chucking driving gear, and cam.
With the invention described, the planetary gear thereof is configured as follows. The planetary gear is provided so as to directly mesh with the output gear and is provided so as to rotate around the periphery thereof.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, in addition to the effects of the invention described above, a separate gear for linking between the output gear and planetary gear becomes unnecessary, so that the number of parts can be reduced, and the selecting mechanism can be reduced in size and simplified.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a locking member as described next. A locking member is provided between the aforementioned cam and the aforementioned planetary gear, and is rotatably configured between a locking position which locks the planetary gear at the aforementioned first rotational position, and a disengaging position which disengages the lock on the planetary gear and allows rotation of the planetary gear to the aforementioned second rotational position, the motion of the locking mechanism being synchronous with the cam.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, providing a locking member between the cam and planetary gear allows for the position and form of the locking member to be selected, whereby the position and rotational range of the planetary gear can be freely set, thus improving freedom in designing of the selecting mechanism.
With the invention described, the magazine thereof is detachably provided to the disk changer device.
According to the above configuration in accordance with the invention, the magazine is detachably provided to the disk changer device so that exchange of the disks can be easily conducted by removing the magazine from the device.